Friday, October 14, 2016

A personal update

For Christmas 2014, I got a pretty hefty gift: I was diagnosed with
stage 4 colon cancer. A large tumor in the sigmoid colon and several
smaller tumors had spread to the liver. Not a good thing to have.

I
am fairly young (mid-30's), never smoked nor chewed tobacco, rarely
drink alcohol, and my diet is pretty good. I could do with more
exercise but I am generally close to my "ideal" body weight. No family
history either except my maternal grandfather, who got cancer at a very
late age. What caused it? Was it some random charcoal bit from some
burnt toast? Was it that anti-freeze chugging contest? We will
probably never know.

Been doing chemotherapy treatments
for a while now. They are pretty excruciating. I've had to stop
working due to fatigue and weakness. Beware, there is a lot of
misinformation out there. Google is not your friend here.

I picked up a
book: American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Nutrition for Cancer
Survivors: Eating Well, Staying Well During and After Cancer. Lots of
evidence-based information in here. Comments on things like different
diets, different foods, etc.

I get to stay home more so I figure I will write more. Be positive, take care.